This site is intended for Healthcare Professionals only

New care models the way forward, says Nav Chana

Events bookmark icon off

New care models the way forward, says Nav Chana

New models of care provided an opportunity to "completely redesign primary care" over the next 12 months, according to Dr Nav Chana, chairman of the National Association of Primary Care.

Speaking to delegates at the Pharmacy Show on October 19, Dr Chana highlighted Primary Care Homes as a key initiative that was likely to be announced this week. A Primary Care Home would include all the champions of care required for a population of, say, 30-50,000 people, working together with a unified care budget. This might include, for example, three or four GP practices, five or six pharmacies, a number of nurses, etc. "Imagine if they all worked together and owned the problems together and did the right things by our population. At the heart of this is a wholly integrated system," said Dr Chana (pictured).

 The NAPC wanted to work collaboratively with community pharmacy to improve healthcare. "We’ve got one of the best primary care systems in the world but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be better. It’s not just about medicines optimisation and MURs. It's about new care models, population health and being accountable for care. It’s outcomes that matter to the population." Failures to address the wider social determinants of health had made health inequality worse.

President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Ash Soni, speaking during the same session, called on the audience to think about ways to make community pharmacy work most effectively. He suggested integrated care models were one way forward. "We’re trying to achieve a primary care federation."

It was essential to shift care out of secondary care, said Mr Soni, because a 1 per cent shift from secondary care would be worth 4 per cent to primary care. "From a pharmacy and GP perspective, if we don’t do this what do we do? Income is falling for pharmacists and GPs and that’s partly because more money is going into secondary care. I don’t talk about over supply of pharmacists any more, I talk about under-utilisation."

Copy Link copy link button

Events

Share: